Observation Date: 03/30/2015

Route/Location:
Up the climber’s trail on East St Marys Peak and put skis on at 6500 feet. Climbed to summit of East St Marys on SE ridge, down to Vacation Pass, climbed Lowary Peak, down W face, back up to SE ridge of East St. Marys and down to trail head.

Weather:
Mostly sunny all day with above freezing temperatures by late morning.

Wind:
Calm in the morning, but S to SW winds increased to moderate speeds by the afternoon. With mostly hard or wet snow surfaces on all aspects and elevations we observed no wind-loading.

New Snow: No New Snow

Avalanche Activity:
No recent avalanche activity. Every slide we saw was several days old. Below 8000 feet we noticed wet loose avalanches up to size D2 on south and southeast aspects. Above 8000 feet there were several, size D1-D2 wind slab avalanches that ran on multiple aspects on slopes steeper than 35 degrees. We observed these on East and West St Marys, the west face of Gray Wolf, and on Lowary Peak. We also saw one buckling glide crack on the W face of Sonielem Ridge just north of Peak Y (photo).

Other Comments:
Above 7500 feet, winds, and increasing clouds in the afternoon kept the snowpack surface from getting too soft and we had no problems with wet avalanches. Overall a great spring tour on a variety of snow conditions.

Observer: Adam Clark